I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: January 24, 2026] Knoll

I hadn’t heard of Knoll until my physical therapist said he knew them.  He said they put on an incredible show.  And since I already knew that Agriculture was incredible, I was doubly psyched.

So Knoll set up their gear.  They had an old-looking end table (I would guess like 100 years old, with all kinds of filigree–but probably not worth anything) and interesting gear on it. The table also had a little light on it.  And then I realized that there were four floor lamps around the stage.

And these lights were the only things that lit the stage!  And, most interesting of all, each band member had a step on plug (like we use for our Christmas lights) and turned their individual light on and off throughout the show.

All five members of the band were dressed in all black–button down shirts and black pants.  And the lead singer, James Eubanks, has his head shaved, (possibly his eyebrows), his fingernails shaped into points.  He looks like Nosferatu.

Before the show, he busied himself by making sure all of the lamps were plugged in.  And as soon as they were ready.

BOOM.

I was in front of guitarist Cameron Giarraputo.  He was like a machine with the speed and technical expertise he brought to these incredibly fast songs.  It was a wall of noise.  And then Eubanks stepped up front and an unholy demon jumped out of his mouth.

He growled, he shrieked, he made sounds that I didn’t think a human could make and… apparently… there were words associated with these sounds.

I have seen a lot of extreme bands, but there’s nothing to prepare you for this.

Drummer Jack Anderson must be exhausted by the end of the show playing so fast.  I was bummed that Ryan Cook guitarist and trumpet player (!) was behind his floor lamp as I never actually saw him.  I could just see his hands moving at the speed of light.  And what about that trumpet?  It doesn’t come out much but when it does it adds a layer of dissonance that you wouldn’t think would be able to fit among the rest of the dissonance.  Incredible.

It was bassist Lukas Quartermaine who made me first aware of the foot pedals.  His light was on in the back and every other measure he turned it on and off.  On the surface it seems silly (like the fact that the use a Christmas electrical foot pedal to turn them on and off) but it worked so well to create an atmosphere.  Sometimes the lights were in synch.  Sometimes not.  Sometimes just one light was on.  It cast wonderfully eerie glows around the stage.  Like the moment when things were grinding and then all the lights went out  until BAM, the return of the super fast with all of the lights on.

And while the band is full of technical mastery and obviously, they would be nothing without them, the focal point is always Eubanks.

Whether he clutches his chest (pale hand, long nails against the black shirt) or leaning towards the audience with a scowl, he delicately stomps (is that possible?  he seemed to weigh nothing but his presence was intense).  The photographer next to me was using a flash which I thought might make the band burst into flames (literally or figuratively) but they paid the guy no heed.  The guy on my other side was headbanging to the music but even he knew there was no way to headbang that fast, so he had to do it on the quarternotes instead.

I have no idea how many songs they played.  I have no idea what songs they played.  Their new album is about 40 minutes and that’s how long the set was so I’m inclined to think they played the whole album.  But I have no idea.  What was interesting was the set seemed to be broken into 15 minute chunks.  During the downtime, Eubanks would play with the things on his table. There were knobs and faders and feedback makers.  And he messed with those for a minute or so, presumably for the rest of the band to rest?

And then they were back.  I enjoyed hearing that trumpet ring out over the din.

And then Eubanks was back at the table.  He put the microphone on the lightbulb of the lamp (no idea if it did anything but it seemed to).  And then he had this …. box with wires sticking up.  He took out a violin bow and proceeded to bow these wires which were clearly plugged into something as they made a low rumbling metallic sound that Eubanks manipulated with his gadgets.  He also had a flat piece of wood with stretched out springs.  He banged on them and they made an even more crazy noise–although the second time he did it the volume was too low to really get what was going on.

Towards the end of the set Eubanks took his small light, removed the shade and put the bulb in his mouth while he played with the stuff on his table.  Again: silly? Yes.  But it looked nicely spooky.

There was a moment near the end of the set where their unsettling music was even creepier because Quartermaine was bending bass strings out of tune and back.  And when the show was over, I loved that Eubanks, in a very polite voice said Thank you very much.  They are from Tennessee and I wonder if he speaks with an accent.

It was one of the more incredible shows I have seen.  I’m not even sure that I liked it exactly,  but when it was announced that they were coming back to town to play with Pallbearer, I immediately grabbed a ticket.

SETLIST

????